Review: Vala's Bed

Vala's Bed by Joyce K. Faulkner
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

MWSA Review

Vala’s Bed by Joyce Faulkner is a fictional story of a young German woman who married an American G.I. and moved with her two sons to a small town in Ohio right after World War II ended. Her husband, Sonny, readily considers Emo, known as EJ, and Milo, known as Mick, as his own, even they are aren't his biological children. One possession Vala manages to have shipped from Mannheim, Germany, is her ornate bed, which she treasures. But she is haunted by memories of life as a young girl in Nazi Germany, where she lived with her older sister and her parents. Staunch Nazis, her parents had considerable social standing. Elder son EJ has a mild form of epilepsy and sometimes experiences vivid dreams. He ultimately suspects they may not be dreams at all, but memories. However, his mother refuses to speak of her life in Germany and offers no clues. Mick and EJ secretly rummage through their mother’s suitcases of mementos and documents, trying to find out more about their—and their mother’s—past. As they grow from young boys to men, EJ in particular, questions anyone he thinks might have a key to his mother’s demons and real answers to his own history.

Much of the story reveals itself in dialogue and the story is told through EJ’s point of view. The characters in Vala’s Bed are richly drawn and their voices are distinct. Anyone interested in what it might have been like for a German to move to the U.S. right after World War II ended will find this story enlightening. It allows the reader to understand how a parent’s beliefs and actions can affect a child’s life forever. It warmly draws vivid images of life in a small town and deftly weaves together relationships from Vala’s childhood in Germany and her adult life in the U.S. This is a book worth reading…a book that will make your care about what happens to its characters.

Review by Patricia Walkow (April 2020)

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